Apple to appeal after OPTi's $21.7m patent infringement win

Pre-snooping dogfight

Apple has been told to pay OPTi $21.7m in damages after an Eastern Texas Court issued a final judgment in the firm's long-running patent infringement case.

But reports this morning suggest the Mac maker's next move will be sending an appeal to the ruling, rather than a cheque.

The final judgment, issued last week, determines that Apple infringed three claims in silicon IP firm OPTi's US Patent No 6.405,291.

The judgement awarded OPTi royalties of $19m in actual damages, plus interest of $2.7m.

However, it also found that there was no "wilful infringement" and denied a request for reimbursement of lawyers' fees.

OPTi first brought the case in January 2007, claiming that Apple had infringed its patents covering its "pre-snoop" technology for cache memory.

OPTi has already announced plans to go after other companies it believes has infringed its patents. A trial against AMD is set for next February, covering alleged use of the pre-snoop technology in the vendor's CPUs and core logic products. ®